Persecutions in the third and fourth centuries.

In the third century Christianity grew in number though they remained a minority. The
emperors in the first half of the century did not miss out their radical numerical increase and
began to see the new religion as a threat to their rule. Persecutions were witnessed time after
time. Some of the major incidents are mentioned hereunder:
1. Persecution under Septimus Severus: Septimus Severus ascended to the throne in 193.
At first he treated Christians with certain leniency because he received benefit during a
serious illness from a Christian slave who treated by anointing oil. He allowed Christians in
his court and employed Christians as a nurse and a tutor to his son named Caracalla. He was
said to even provide protection to well-known Christians from the anger of the mob as the
emperor was on his way to Rome after his victory over his rival Albinus.
The emperor’s attitude had changed in the beginning of 202 Gonzalez suggested that the
emperor felt the need to bring religious harmony within his jurisdiction and thus settled on
the policy of promoting syncretism. He proposed to bring all his subjects together under the
worships of the ‘Unconquered Sun’. This religious exclusivism was never accepted by the
Christians and the Jews. Hence, Emperor Severus decided to stop the spread of these two
religions by issuing the Edict in 2020 which forbade all conversions either to Judaism or to
Christianity.
As a result, many Christians were convicted and thrown into prison, many were tortured and
were burning at the stake while others were killed by wild beasts in public arenas. The
tradition affirms that one of the Church Fathers Irenaeus suffered martyrdom in that year. In
Alexandria, a group of Christians, including Origen’s father Leonides were killed. In
Carthage, Perpetua, a young woman and Felicita, a slave girl were thrown to wild beat arena
along with others. Speaking of the martyrs, Clement of Alexandria wrote they they were,
“seen every day before our eyes roasted, crucified and beheaded.’
2. Persecution under Maximian: A Thracian peasant Maximian came to the throne in 235.
He was tolerant at once but he reversed the policy soon afterwards and issued an edict
ordering persecution of Christians. The reason for changing his policy was simple. He was
said to have disliked the ‘entourage of his assassinated predecessors.’ Christians in
Cappadocia, Pontius and Palestine suffered his persecution severely. It was the emperor’s
supposition that Christianity would immediately perish if he successfully managed to
exterminate the leaders. Thus, he directed measures against the heads of the church and
records suggested that Bishop Pontanius and Bishop Hippolytus were sent to work in mines
and both of them eventually died in exile. A number of martyrdom are recorded during his
short tenure of office.
3. Persecution of Decius: Decius ascended to the throne in 249. His anticipation of social
reform was based on return to the old Roman laws and manners of life that will automatically
restored the unity and vigour of the empire. Hence, the possibility of restoring Rome’s
ancient glory was the restoration of the ancient religion. If all the subjects of the empire
would worship their ancient gods, gods would once again please to favour the empire. With
this conviction Decius was determined to extirpate Christianity. He issued an edict in 250
commanding everyone to sacrifice to the national gods. All Christians were informed to
appear before the magistrate, abjure their religion and sacrifice to the Roman gods. An act of
refusal would lead to confiscation of their properties, imprisonment, exile and even death.
In this period of persecution, Christians found their means of escape by bribing officials to
obtain certificates so that they did not have to sacrifice before Roman gods. However, many
of them suffered at the hands of the persecutors and bishops were especially marked out for
attack with a hope of disorganising the church. In Rome, Bishop Fabian was martyred.
Bishop Babylas of Antioch was also executed while Origen was so cruelly tortured in prison
and died later at tyre. Bishop Alexander of Alexandria also died of ill-treatment in prison and
very large number of the laity suffered in the same way.
4. Valerian Persecution: Valerian became the emperor in 253 and the early years of his rule
was a moment of peace for the church. In a way, this could have been the influence of
political turmoil in the empire. It was a period when Gaul, Spain and Northern Italy were
overrun by the Franks and German tribes raided Greece and Asia Minor etc. Valerian, being
determined that all his subjects must appeal to the national gods for deliverance, issued an
edict in 257. Apparently, his motive was not to destroy Christianity but to enforce conformity
to the law.
All meetings for Christian worships were banned and cemeteries were closed. All churches
were confiscated by the state and all bishops were banished from their dioceses. A severe
edict was published again in 258 by which clerical leaders of the church-bishops, priests and
deacons were put to death, Christians of high rank in the state were to be killed and those
practicing Christianity among noble ladies were to be banished for their faith. Members of
the court were to be sent in chains to work as slaves in the imperial estates. No mention is
made of the treatment of humble Christians probably because of Valerian’s hope that ‘the
sheep thus left without shepherds would come back to the true fold without being worried.’
The persecution which followed the promulgation of these edicts apperantly extended to at
least a majority provinces of the empire. St. Lawrence, one of the earliest and well-known
Roman Martyrs was burnt alive and other many deacons were put to death. In Africa, Bishop
Cyprian was killed and Bishop of Hippo was among the victims. In Spain, Bishop Tarragona
and two of his deacons were killed.
5. Persecution under Diocletian: Persecutions under Decius and Valerian were followed by
the period of relative peace for Christians. However, a severe one broke out under Diocletian
who rose to the emperor in 284 when he began to implement his conviction for empire
reconstruction.
One of the leading factors this time was Christian’s refusal to join military service. Many
church leaders of the time were of the opinion that Christians should not join the army while
there were a number of Christian soldiers in the legions. Galerius convinced the reigning
emperor that all Christians should be expelled from the Roman Army. In 303, Diocletian
issued an edict against Christians, commanding that all churches were to be demolished and
all church properties to be confiscated to the state; all religious books were to be burned, all
Christian officials were to be dismissed from government service and be deprived of all civil
right while Christians who were not officials were to be made slaves. Diocletian was aiming
at Christian submission to the state and their cooperation in prayer and service to the gods of
the empire.
Christians were seized, thrust into prisons, burnt, or drowned. The second edict ordered
imprisonment of all clergy. Members of the clergy were imprisoned and a special search was
made for the Scriptures. Those who owned these scriptures were tortured unless they
surrendered their copies to be burnt in flames. In addition, cruelty against Christians was
exhibited by sending young Christian virgins to brothel where they were raped and defiled.
Many men were crucified and uncountable number suffered imprisoned.